


Restless Hands

by idra



Series: 30 Days of Fic (June 2014) [25]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 14:50:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1861893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idra/pseuds/idra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek sees Stiles after ten years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Restless Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to [With Trembling Hands](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1829071). For day 25 of my 30 day challenge. I am catching up.

Derek waves at his usual waitress as he sets foot inside his favourite diner. He heads for his usual table in and sighs a little. It's been ten years exactly since he arrived in Dumas, Texas. He'd left Beacon Hills and traveled through Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico before he'd finally settled in Texas. 

The waitress approaches and grins at him. "Hey Tyler. How's the life of a best selling author?" 

Derek chuckles. "Hard. I can't get the next story out and my publisher is about to kill me. I'll have a-"

"Bacon double cheeseburger, rare. French fries with ranch dipping sauce. A small vanilla shake. And a slice of pie, blueberry if you have it, with ice cream on the side."

Derek looks up at the familiar voice-- he could never forget that voice-- and stares wide eyed at Stiles. "What are you doing here?" 

Stiles slides into the seat across from Derek and smiles at the waitress as he taps his first two fingers on the table top. "I'll have the same, except a chocolate shake and apple pie."

She looks at Derek, then Stiles, then back. "Ty?" 

Derek nods. "Yeah. One ticket. It's fine, Stacy."

She frowns but walks away to put their orders in and Derek looks back at Stiles. "How did you find me?" 

"Nice nom de plume. Tyler Hoechlin? Really?" Stiles shifts a little, his fingers tapping incessantly. "You may be writing and living under an assumed name, Der, but did you think I wouldn't recognize your stories? You wrote about us. About our lives. Fire Butte?"

Derek blushes a little. "Yeah, okay. But..."

"It gives your personal information. Not a picture of you, but the back of the books in the about the author section. It always says that you live in Texas. Wasn't that hard to narrow down, especially when Danny's a part of Scott's pack now."

"I can't go back."

"I'm not asking you to. I haven't been back since I graduated high school. I begged my dad to go with me."

"Did he?"

"We went to New York. He's Chief of Police in Princeton."

"Did you go to Princeton?" Derek asks, eyebrows raised.

"Still with the eyebrows. I swear, Der." Stiles grins, the fingers of his left hand still moving. "Yeah, I went to Princeton. Athletic scholarship and academic. Once you left, I... I sort of stepped away from the supernatural a little. Not all the way 'cause you know, Scott. But I wasn't as involved as I had been. After I read your letter, I wanted us to meet again someday."

"Stop calling me Der." Derek looks around. "It's Tyler. When we're not in public, you can call me anything you want, but not in public."

"Okay. Is there a local pack?"

"Over in Palo Duro Canyon. I run with them occasionally on full moons."

"But you're an Omega?" 

"Officially and technically, I still belong to Scott's pack. I never really severed ties with him." Derek looks down. "The Rogers pack lets me hang out with them because I told them about what happened, but that I wasn't looking for another pack. I just wanted to be free of the politics and free to be a wolf again."

Stiles smiles and reaches over, squeezing Derek's hand. "Good for you. So... Did you mean what you said in the letter?" 

"Yeah. Every word." Derek licks his lips, looking at Stiles.

Stiles grins and bites his lip. "So, I went to Princeton. I like doubled up on classes, so I had my bachelor's degree in three years, a Master's in four. I started work on a PhD, but got sidetracked when Melissa McCall moved to Princeton to be with my dad. They got married, by the way, and Scott and I have a baby brother and a baby sister. Twins. Cutest little shitheads ever. Combine every bad trait of mine and Scott's and that's our baby siblings." Stiles beams. "I've been helping out with them, since Dad's been busy with work and Melissa's been promoted to head of the Princeton Plainsboro hospital. But now they're five and starting kindergarten and I finally found out where you were. I'm technically still working on my PhD, but I pretty much just have to finish up my thesis, defend it and I'm done."

"What did you study?"

"Bio-chemistry." Stiles grins. "Mostly focusing on the effects of aconite on animals and humans."

"Wolfsbane?" 

"Yep." Stiles licks his lips. "No worries, I won't keep any around you. But in Amarillo, they have a lab that I'll be working with to finish my thesis. I already got accepted." He shifts in his seat and Derek raises an eyebrow. "I found out you were here and I figured Amarillo is far enough away if you'd changed your mind, but close enough that if you hadn't, we could still be together."

"So, you're here because..." He trails off, waiting for Stiles' answer. 

Stiles takes a deep breath. "Because I've loved you in one way or another since I was sixteen. I'm twenty eight now, man. I'm pretty sure my feelings aren't going away. I haven't... I dated a little, but I never found anyone who made me feel the way that you always did. You said it was just an infatuation with what I couldn't have, but once you told me I could have it? That's all I could think about." Stiles licks his lips and looks down at the table. "If you still really mean it, I want to be with you. Always. Forever, if you can stand me that long."

"You know." Derek stops and lets out a little breath. Here he's being offered everything he's ever wanted and he has no idea how to truly respond. "I don't know, Stiles."

"Right. I'll... I'll flag the waitress down and get my food to go."

Derek flinches a little at the heartbreak in Stiles' voice. "What I mean is... I don't know that forever is long enough for all of the things I want us to experience together."

Stiles' hand stills for the first time since he'd sat down and he looks up, eyes wide and shining. Derek smiles and reaches across the table, taking Stiles' hand in his. "See, the thing is, Stiles, I've loved you since we met. I don't believe in soul mates or mates or whatever lore you've likely read on wolves. But I've known since I first saw you, standing with Scott looking for his inhaler, that you were everything I wanted. Jennifer and I happened because she was so much like you that I thought I could maybe forget about you for a while, until you were old enough for me to be with."

Stiles flips his hand so their palms are pressed together. "That kind of makes you an asshole, but I don't really care. I kind of just want to crawl all over you right now."

Derek snorts and he grins. "Let me flag down Stacy and get our food to go."

Stiles nods. "Der, I do love you."

Derek glances at Stiles' chest and grins. "I know."


End file.
